Harsh Realities
by IvoryMaster
Summary: One never knows what to expect during the night. This is true for the night patrol witch from the 501st as she has an unexpected encounter with an anomaly. As the conversation proceeds, harsh truths are revealed and nothing can ever be said/unsaid for such truths to be unrevealed. "I may not have a heart, but even I know when to face the harsh realities that accompany this world."


**My mind has been cluttered lately so I thought it would be fun to write something in order to help me with my other story.**

 **One shot. I do not own Strike Witches or The Avengers' Films.**

* * *

Clouds began to gather under the Britannian sky, and for such a cloudy night, the winds were unexpectedly blowing gently to the north. The weather in the Britannian channel at night is usually cloudy and windy, making it hard for people on the ground to see pass the clouds and towards the night sky, but for tonight, no winds were blowing hard. Though it is a calm night with calm weather, the same cannot be said for the night witch who is on patrol. Every night, Sanya would patrol the night sky as the first line of defense for any Neuroi who decide to use the cover of dark to infiltrate Britannian airspace, but with her magic antenna ability, it allowed her to detect any Neuroi camouflaged in the dark or hiding in the clouds with ease so that she can dispatch of them with her prototype weapon the Fliegerhammer. She can detect any Neuroi attempting to infiltrate from kilometers away, without them knowing that she has a lock on them. Because of her ability and her talents, she has become a spectacular night witch for the Strike Witches. Every night was usually the same for her, patrol, detect Neuroi, and dispatch of them.

This was not one of those night.

For in front of the Orussian night witch was an anomaly. Anomaly best describes the situation because she did not know what exactly she was staring at that was several meters in front of her, and it managed to elude her magical ability; there are few, if none, that can go undetected from her magic ability. Whatever it was, it took the shape of a human, or so it seemed. It looked at her with its glowing, red eyes in a peculiar way, like it was analyzing her from her striker unit to her weapon, and quite possibly her wardrobe. Its entire body was adorned in multiple layers of metal skin, possibly steel from the looks of it. It towered over at a height of 3 meters, twice the size she was as she only reached its stomach or lower chest. Its entire body looked to be made out of metal with pockets of wires and red lights in on its chest protect by metal. She could hear the sounds of an engine silently roaring from behind as a closer look reveals some sort of exhaust of blue flames that is allowing this metal man to fly without the use of a striker unit. Its lower jaw fidgeted left and right like it was preparing to say something. Sanya floated there in anticipation, waiting for the metal man do something.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I suppose anybody give the same look to see some flying robot come out of nowhere. As for my curiosity, why do you wear such a wardrobe?" it questioned her with a man's voice that sounded like he was speaking through a radio, a more clear radio, but still a radio. She shook her head to escape the momentary amazement she was in when it talked. This metal man talked to her; it communicated with her, but that still did not help her answer who or what he is.

"W-who are you?" She asked, stuttering her first words out of amazement and fear. It looked at her for a brief moment.

"Ultron, in the flesh, or rather metal, I suppose." He responded. She found out its name, so it would make sense for her to give him her name. She opened her mouth, about ready to give Ultron her name before he put his palm in the air facing her, telling her to stop.

"No need for you to introduce yourself. I know who you are, Aleksandra Vladimirovna Litvyak." He explained to her, sending a cold shiver up Sanya's spine.

"How did you know my name?" She surprisingly asked, to which he responded

"What do you mean? You were the one who told me." She did not understand what he was talking about; she has never met him before. Then a voice was heard coming from Ultron, but he was not the one talking. No, the voice sounded very familiar, and it came to her as a surprise.

 _My name is Aleksandra Vladimirovna Litvyak. But it's a little long, and I prefer being called Sanya, so that's how I usually introduce myself. I'm a Flying officer from the Imperial Army of Orussia, and my birthday is on the 18_ _th_ _of August. I just recently turned 14. I'm 152cm tall._

"Has humanity fallen so low that they would deploy children to fight their wars?"

She knows where that audio came from. It was when those people from the Britannia newspaper visited and interviewed everyone in the base, but how did he managed to get ahold of the recordings. This was starting to become uncomfortable, if not creepy, for Sanya. This towering metal man named Ultron knew her name from recordings he managed to copy and has other information on not just her, but all the other witches in the 501st. She did not like how this encounter was going. A feeling of danger began to creep up on Sanya, and she began to fly a bit backwards as to have some space between her and Ultron. He was up to something, and whether his intentions were good or bad, she does not like the atmosphere around him.

"What, did you really think I would reveal myself to you without first doing research about who my opponents are? Humans are so naive." Ultron revealed in a jokingly tone at the last half of his statement. The fact that he mentioned opponents now disclosed that the person in front of her was an enemy, and enemy with unknown capabilities. Her magic antennas began to flare up; she knew what that meant.

Ultron can tell that the girl in front of him was scared. This irritated him, but it was not like he was not expecting this. He knew that once people would looked to him, they would look at him in horror, and not marvel at him, like he was supposed to. There was no doubt in his processors that her horror was a result from _them, from,_ from what _they_ made him out to be. He noticed Sanya's hands began to tighten around her giant weapon, the Fliegerhammer. He wondered how a girl of her stature can even carry a weapon like that.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he cautioned her. "Because I don't want to have to take drastic measures in the off chance you decide to attack." It was at this moment that he realized his mistake. Several kilometers away, he could sense an airship approaching at an alarming rate. She must have been raising her weapon in reaction to destroy the incoming aircraft.

"Leave us alone."

He turned his head around to the direction the aircraft was coming and raised his fingers toward it. To Sanya's surprise, five red beams fired out of Ultron's fingertips. They travelled at such a high speeds until the energy beam struck the incoming Neuroi, easily piercing its think hide and striking the core, shattering it into millions of pieces. From what Sanya can tell from her magic antenna, it was a medium-sized Neuroi, and it was destroyed with ease by the metallic being in front her. This confirmed it for her…Ultron was a force to be reckoned with.

"Back to our conversation." He stated. He floated to the left of Sanya, looking out into the horizon where the 501st base was, then looking in the opposite direction, towards Gallia where the Neuroi hive was.

"A geography question. Do you know where we are?" he quizzed her, hoping that she would say the right answer. Sanya, on the other hand, attempted to understand his question. She knew where they were, but why would he ask such a question. Surely a being like himself who managed to ascertain information about the 501st would know where they were. There was more to it than he let on, but she can't put her finger on it. A while passed before she mustered up the courage to answer his simple question.

"We are flying three kilometers above the Britannish Channel in between Britannia and Gallia." She answered with 100 percent confidence. Ultron just kept starring at her. He looked at her for a long time. The look he gave her was one that helps determine if she was lying, and she knew that look, whether it be on people or metal people. She was not lying, so why was he trying to find any false witness. Ultron's eyes widen for he knew that she was not lying. He gave a small sigh, to which Sanya heard.

"I suppose we are." He reconciled. Sanya was still weary of the person in front of her. She debated whether she should contact the other witches for support for the discovery of this person, but she would not do that. She witness Ultron destroy a Neuroi with ease a long range with weaponry similar to what the Neuroi fire. She feared that any attempts to make contact with the other witches would result in him detecting the distress call. She did not like the next thought the appeared after her communication attempts were halted by Ultron. It would be best to cooperate with him.

"So you're from Orussia, huh. Tell me, what is it like up there because I don't think I have been up there. I have been to a place similar to Orussia that shares a lot of the same aspect that it's scary." Commented Ultron. Sanya remained silent.

"I think you would know since I did explain it during my interview." She pointed out. He let out a small chuckle.

"teh, your smarter than you look." He complimented before switching to the recording.

 _Orussia is a very vast country. It stretches from the east of Europe to the edge of the Eurasian continent. It's probably the biggest country in the world. Bur most of the land is cold plains, so living there can be quite tough._

Even if it was her own voice, she did feel unnerved every time he played back the recordings. She would feel her entire body fidget every time he played back her own voice.

"I knew a pair of twins who weren't from Russ…Orussia, but they had similarities to where they could be mistaken for Orussian." He added.

"Enough small talk, it's time to get down to business."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Hear for yourself…"

 _Someday, I want to return to Orussia, find my father and mother, and then go back with them to Vienna to keep on studying playing the piano._

"Do you believe that you will actually find your parents?" He asked with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. A big shiver enveloped upon hearing what Ultron asked. She let down a big gulp in preparation of what he was going to do.

"It amazes me that after all this time, you think you will be able to find them and live peacefully without even considering the possibility that they could be dead. Has human denial risen so much that people need to build a wall of lies in order to continue before the truth comes and destroys those walls?" Ultron explained, getting louder towards the end of this statement. Sanya's arms began to quiver upon hearing his stinging words as they entered through her ears, and remained there, enclosed in her mind.

"Stop it." She weakly said, attempting to recover from his vicious attack, but any form of recovery was soon wasted as he continued his personal attack on her.

"And so what do you do? You join the military in order to have a false sense of security by surrounding yourself with others who have also build up their walls of lies and believe that once the Neuroi are gone, peace can return to the world."

"Stop it."

"I may not have a beating heart, but even I know when it is time to face the harsh realities that accompany this world.

"Stop it…"

"And don't even get me started on your pathetic relationship with that Eila girl…"

"STOP IT!" She shouted immediately upon hearing him utter Eila's name. Tears were flowing down her snow-white cheeks as she was forced to endure his attack. It was one thing to squander on her hopes and dreams, but it was entirely a different thing when it comes to her relationship with any of the witches, especially Eila. He won't let this monster bad mouth her comrades. He can do that to her, and she will have to endure it, but she will not allow him to bad mouth her friends. He allowed her to recover from his attack as she took her hands to wipe off her flowing tears from her face.

"You may not believe it, but we have more in common than you think." He stated.

"That's a lie. What could we possibly share in common?" She stated to him in a firm voice, yet with still a little bit of somber. Ultron replied to her question with an audio recording.

 _I would like to make the world into one where everyone could get along with each other..._ She pondered this statement for a while before a word came to her mind.

"Peace…" she said trailing off in unbelief that this monster, this metallic monster that caused her such anguish, is looking for something that all people in this world is desperately fighting for.

"That is why I exist… to secure peace for the world. I have the power to do that, but unlike humanity, I have identified what has to change, and believe me, it's _not_ the Neuroi."

Sanya could not let herself believe what this machine was saying. What kind of peace-keeping machine allows for such awful insults to be said? This thing was bad. Sure, the Neuroi have caused a lot of destruction over the years, and they were the reason why she lost her parents in the first place, but with the conversation she had with Ultron, he caused so much damage to her, and he did not have to lay a finger on her or any physical object.

Ultron did not say anything for a while. He allowed her to process all the information she has learned. He hoped that she would understand his reasoning, but that was all just hopeful thinking. She won't be able to understand until he has completed what he needs to do, and show humanity that his actions were justified.

It was time for him to leave, but not before saying a couple of words to the Orussian girl.

"You do have a beautiful singing voice." Ultron complimented her out of nowhere. Sanya was a bit thrown off by his statement, but she knew that it could be just another attack.

"Your father wrote a song for you. You sing it to yourself on nights like this to have a little bit of harmony within yourself. I have listen to it, and to tell you the truth, I have grown quite fond of it." It was then that the sound of Sanya singing filled the air, but Sanya was not the one singing, but rather, a recording being played from Ultron. She listen to her own song as her elegant voice filled the night sky. Normally, this would bring comfort to her, but no comfort would come seeing that a machine is playing a song that her father wrote for her. It only brought the opposite. She remained there for the duration of the song, and when it ended, Ultron turned his body towards Gallia.

"That is all the time I have, Sanya. I have other matters to attend to. As a bit of advice, don't tell anybody about our conversation. I would like to keep a presence a secret for a little bit more. I would hate for any accidents to occur at the 501st base if you were to tell them of my existence." And with those threatening words, he flew away at a high speed towards Gallia. Sanya was a bit glad for her confrontation with Ultron to have ended, but yet, she was still frighten by the threat, or promise, that Ultron made to her. Feeling a bit calm, she used her magic antennas to see if Ultron did leave and if there were any Neuroi in the surrounding area. It would have been better if nothing would have come up because her antennas picked up a signal coming from the direction towards Gallia. It sounded like a radio broadcast to which she listened to.

The rest of the night went very terribly for Sanya. There were no Neuroi for the rest of the night, but the broadcast she heard would be implanted into her memories for weeks to come as a certain voice ominously sang a song.

 _I got no strings,_

 _so I have fun,_

 _I'm not tied up to anyone._

 _They got strings,_

 _but you can see,_

 _there are no strings on me._


End file.
